This invention relates to the removal of trialkyl arsines from fluids by means of solid sorbents. In another aspect, this invention relates to the removal of trialkyl arsines from gases, in particular hydrocarbon-containing gases.
Materials for adsorbing and/or absorbing unsubstituted arsine (AsH.sub.3) are well known. However, many of these materials are ineffective for the sorption of trialkyl arsines, which may be present as undesirable impurities in natural gas streams produced at some well sites. For instance, as is demonstrated by test data in this application, the CuO/ZnO-containing sorbent of U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,148 is effective for removing trialkyl arsines from a fluid feed only when the feed contains H.sub.2 S (required by the claimed process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,148) which converts at least a portion of copper oxide to copper sulfide. The present invention provides a sorbent material which is effective for removing trialkyl arsines from fluids by sorption (i.e., adsorption and/or absorption), even from fluids which contain little or no H.sub.2 S.